MARPLE -- There was a running joke this season within the Marple Newtown camp.

For a team that featured as potent a goal scorer as Tommy Ryan, no one among the Tigers was willing to don the team's No. 10 kit. In soccer communities globally, it's a number reserved for the skilled scorer who finds the back of the net most often.

"Between all of us, we just decided that no one should wear No. 10," said Ryan, a senior midfielder. "I think we all decided we'd be a team, we'd be equal and that no one was above anyone else."

In the end, Ryan stood above everyone else.

Everyone on his team ... and everyone in the county.

Having demonstrated marked improvement from his junior to senior seasons, having developed into Delaware County's most difficult mark, having taken a downtrodden program to its historical apex, Ryan's candidacy for Daily Times' boys soccer Player of the Year became most apparent.

The All-Delco team is constructed by the Daily Times after consultation with county coaches.

Only Rico Becerra and Superdock are two-time selections. And Arronson, a junior, is the only All-Delco representative who has a shot to repeat next season.

If not for incurring a season-ending injury, there's a good chance Max Kurtman could have become the Daily Times' first repeat Player of the Year since 2004-05, when Strath Haven's Karl Reddick took top honors in consecutive seasons.

The Haverford School's senior goalkeeper, Kurtzman broke his left kneecap in the Fords' fifth match of the season. A University of Pennsylvania commit, Kurtzman previously has held a spot within the United States national team's U-17 pool.

But this season belonged to Ryan, who evolved into Delaware County's top goal producer, registering 12 goals and 17 assists. Considering that Marple Newtown logged 36 goals this season -- and Ryan had a foot on 29 of them -- shows Ryan's talent. Typically, he fought through double- and triple-teams to get any touches at all.

But that only represents half of Ryan's development. The other half was internal.

An underclassman with a penchant for hanging his head, Ryan matured into a senior who carried his team emotionally ... and carried the Tigers into the District One Class AAA playoffs for the first time in school history.

"Without Tommy, we're a typical Marple team - a lot of coulda, woulda, shoulda," said Marple Newtown coach Charlie Dodds. "Maybe we would've had four, five wins. We had a lot of talent and, without Tommy, we wouldn't have had someone to pull it together.

"He went from an immature soccer player who knew he was good to a mature player who made the rest of the players around him even better. That's why we got where we got."

Despite making playoffs and advancing to the second round, Marple Newtown finished fourth in the Central League standings.

A younger version of Tommy Ryan would have focused on the latter. He had a way of training his sights on the one thing that didn't go his way, rather than the four or five that did.

Perhaps more important than his athletic progression was Ryan's ability to stay positive this season. Ryan and Dodds held a conversation on this topic more than once in the preseason.

"Mr. Dodds told me this year, 'If we're going to succeed, you have to be a leader,'" Ryan said. "He'd tell me, 'If you get down, the other guys are going to follow your lead -- and we can't have that.' So I took it in, accepted it and played my hardest every game."

That he did.

A natural midfielder, Ryan became a threat all over the field -- even stepping into the Tigers' central defense when their everyday centerback picked up a foul or two.

It was Ryan's right foot that instilled fear in coaches all over the county. And it was Ryan's right foot that got the Tigers into the second round of the District One playoffs.

The Tigers never had even cracked the bracket prior to this year, let alone won a playoff game.

So when Ryan went right on Neshaminy keeper Austin Brotman Oct. 25, it was his goal in the penalty-kick stage that sent Marple Newtown into the next round of the playoffs.

Ryan remembers it this way.

"I don't even know what happened to me after that goal," Ryan said. "We had more than 100 fans out there and they all stormed the field when we won. I remember getting hit, getting knocked over, getting picked up and pushed and everything.

"It was the highlight of my year."

Ryan has not decided upon his college destination, having narrowed his choices to either Saint Joseph's or West Chester. No matter where he ends up, Ryan knows he's leaving the Marple Newtown program in a better place than where he found it.

"When we came in, we were lucky to get a couple of wins," he said. "But we all thought, 'Let's get to the playoffs,' so we all started believing in each other. We worked together as a team.

"I don't know where we're leaving the program, but I hope we're leaving it in a place where, come next year, the kids will be ready for the playoffs again."